Method of and apparatus for cleaning waste tow



(No Model 2 SheetsSheet l.

.A M. D. MILLER. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WASTE TOW.

No. 599,342. Patented Feb. 22, 1898.

Infenftor:

.m CLZJ/OTLZ miller flfbomey;

mine sses:

THE Noam: PETERS cc. PHOTO-LITHQ, WASNINGTON. u. c.

(No Model.) '2 Sheets*Sheet 2.

D. MILLER. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WASTE TOW.

No. 599,342. Patented Feb. 22,1898.

THE norms PETERS c0, PHuTo-umo, WASHINGTON. n. c

ART M rvrrnn MAI-ILON D. MILLER, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED STATES FLAX FIBRE COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WASTE TO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,342, dated February 22, 1898 Application filed February 19, 1896. Serial No. 579,966. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: be itself cleaned by like machinery or proc- 5o Be it known that I, MAI-ILON D. MILLER, a esses, but other means must be employed to citizen of the United States of America, residseparate the shive from the fiber. By means ing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and of my invention I successfully and perfectly 5 State of Minnesota, have invented certain Imaccomplish this end, so that when the procprovements in Methods of and Apparatus for ess is completed the material may be deliv- 55 Cleaning Waste Tow, of which the following ered directly from my machine to the cardis a specification. ing-machine wholly free of foreign matter,

My invention relates to the art of cleaning while the fibers may be in as confused and and working flax fiber, its object being to protangled a mass as before treatment, to be duce an improved process of and apparatus straightened and laid by the card in condition 60 for cleaning the short-fibered waste tow, as for spinning. Any long fibers in the mass well as the short fiber of flax-plants grown are also broken in two in the operation, so for the purpose of producing seed only and that all are of sufficiently uniform length to which is practically entirely a waste product, be successfully worked.

preparatory to carding and spinning the same. The gist of my invention consists in so sub- 65 The tangled mass of this tow is filled with jecting the confused and uncombed mass to shive or portions of the woody fiber of the the influence of centrifugal force as to throw plant, to which the tow fiber tightly clings, out of and away from it the shive which is so that it cannot be shaken out. thereby entirely separated therefrom or is de- It is necessary to bear in mind that my intached while so thrown out by other means. 7o Vention is preliminary to, but wholly inde- To subject all portions of the mass to the efpendent of and different and distinctfrom, the ficient influence of centrifugal action, it is process of carding. It merely serves to prenecessary to bring them all to the exterior of pare the fiber for carding, which operation is the mass, where no fiber can confine and rethen carried out in the same'manner and to strain the shive. It is also important to'thorlike extent as with-clean fiber which has not oughly stir and disintegrate the mass to as been subjected to treatment by my invensist in detaching the fiber from the shive and tion. It is also to be borne in mind that the permit it to be thrown out. The amount of 0 material to be treated has always heretofore applied centrifugal force should also be gradbeen a waste product to be disposed of by ually increased as the cleaning proceeds, the burning or to a limited extent utilized at a heavier or larger particles being first thrown merely nominal price in lieu of packing maoff and the speed finally attained being sufterial, such as excelsior or hay or in paperficient to remove even the lightest and small- 3 5 manufacturing. The material in question is est particles.

of too short fiber to be practically treated by For the carrying out or working of my procmachinery or methods heretofore known. It ess I prefer to employa series of toothed cylis the refuse material combed out of and inders rotated oppositely adjacent each other thrown off from the long fiber or line-stock and at progressively increasing peripheral 40 in the process of manufacturing the latter, speeds. The material is thus carried upon and carries with it the shive which has been these cylinders, alternately over and under freed from the line-stock. the same, according to their direction of rota- The quantities of this waste product annution. Each cylinder as it rotates at higher ally produced are enormous and all efforts to speed than its predecessor seizes and draws 5 save and utilize it have heretofore entirely the material off from the teeth of the latter,

failed, although the fiber itself when cleaned separating and subdividing it and reversing is for many purposes equal or even superior to its surface exposure. Preferably above each the long fiber. The material being itself the alternate cylinder over which the material is waste combed out of the long fiber, it cannot carried I arrange a toothed roll which penetrates the mass and picks and loosens it as it passes. Also underneath the cylinders under which the material is carried I arrange abutments or stops, preferably with crimped or serrated edges, which stand close to but without penetrating the material upon the cylinders and against which are whipped off the particles of shive which are projected beyond the cylinder, but are held from dislodgment by the clinging fiber. The construction, arrangement, and operation of the machine will more clearly appear from the following detailed description of the specification and the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof, in which Figure 1 shows a side elevation of my improved apparatus, parts of the frame thereof being broken away the better to show the construction of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail showing the manner of connecting the stops to the frame underneath the cylinder. Figs. 4 and 5 are details of a serrated stop; Figs. 6 and 7, similar details of a crimped stop, and Figs. 8 and 9 of a straight-edged stop.

In the drawings, A represents the frame or base of the machine, supporting in suitable bearings the series of cylinders 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. These cylinders are graded progressively, their diameters increasing from the receiving or feeding end of the machine to the delivery end, so that when they are driven at a uniform rotative speed their peripheries have progressively greater velocities. The cylinders are clothed with suitable wire teeth, either straight or inclined in the direction of rotation. The cylinders are rotated oppositely, as indicated by the arrows, by thefollowing-described means. The driving-shaft 9 is driven by means of the pulley 10 by a belt connected with the source of power. This shaft carries another pulley 11, over which runs the belt 12, thence it runs over, the pulley 13 of the shaft 14 of the cylinder 5, thence under the pulley 15 on the shaft 16 of the cylinder 6, and thence over the pulley 17 on the shaft 18 of the cylinder 7, whereby, the pulleys being of the same size, the shafts are rotated oppositely at uniform speeds. On the other end of the shaft 9 is a pulley 19, connected by means of the crossed belt 20 with a similar pulley 21 on the shaft 22. Upon the shaft 22 is also mounted the pulley 23, which serves to drive the belt 24, running over the pulley 25 on the shaft 26 of the cylinder 2, thence under the pulley 27 on the shaft 28 of the cylinder 3, and thence over the pulley 29 on the shaft 30 of the cylinder 4, the pulleys being of such size that the shaft speed of all of the cylinders 2 to 7, inclusive, is substantially the same.

Adjacent to the cylinder 2 are the rolls 31 and 32, and above the roll 32 the clearing-roll 33, these all being clothed with suitable teeth. The roll31 is driven from the shaft 22by means of the crossed belt 34, running over the pulley 35 on the shaft 22 and the pulley 36 on the shaft of the roll 31. The rolls 32 and 33 are then driven from the roll 31 by means of the belt 37. The endless feed-belt 38, running over rolls 39 and 40, is driven from the roll 39, which in turn is driven by means of the belt 41, running over the pulley 42 on the shaft 22 and the similar pulley 43 on the shaft of the roll 39.

Above each of the odd-numbered cylinders 3, 5, and 7 is arranged a toothed roll 44, supported in suitable bearings upon standards 45. These rolls are driven by means of crossed belts 46, running over pulleys upon the shafts of the cylinders. At the rear or delivery end of the machine is arranged the clearer comb or brush 47, carried by-the arms 48, 49, and 50, which are connected to the rock-shaft 51. The shaft is oscillated or rocked by means of the pitman 52 from the crank 53, actuated by the pitman or link connection 54 with the pulley 55, which is driven from the shaft of the cylinder 7 by means of the belt 56.

58 is a chute or inclined table upon which the material cleared from the cylinder 7 drops and is carried from the machine.

Arranged underneath and parallel with each of the even-numbered cylinders is the cross-bar 59, uponthe sides of which are secured stops 60, and similarly under the odd numbered cylinders are arranged cross-bars 61, carrying a single stop 62. These stops may be of any suitable construction and are set close enough to the teeth of the cylinder to be struck by the shive, which is protected from the mass of tow by centrifugal force, but clings to the fibers, whereby the shive is whipped off or torn from the tow. In some cases I prefer to use the form of stops shown in Figs. 4 and 5, havinga beveled or serrated edge, in other cases the form shown in Figs. 6 and 7, and in still other cases an entirely straight edge, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. For ordinary purposes the most useful forms are the serrated and crimped edges.

In operation the tow is delivered in a thin layer over the feed-belt 28, between the feedrolls 31 and 32, onto the downwardly-rotating cylinder 2. Thence it passes half-way around the cylinder until cleared from it by the oppositely-rotating cylinder 3, which picks it off and carries it upward and underneath the toothed roll 44, which loosens and stirs it still more. From this cylinder it is taken by the cylinder4, and so on through the series. Each cylinder has a greater peripheral speed than the preceding, and the teeth of the former consequently strike into the mass of tow on the other and pull it off therefrom. In so doing the tow is separated and disintegrated and is reversed in position upon the receiving-cylinder, whereby the under surface of the layer on one cylinder becomes the outer surface on the next, and in the progress of the mass through the machine all portions at some time are brought to the surface, so that the centrifugal action upon the shive is unrestrained by any superimposed fiber. Every particle of foreign matter is thus thrown out of and separated from the tow by centrifugal force, or if adheringto the fibers is whipped off by the stops against which it strikes as carried around by the ballooning fiber of the mass. The pulling off of the tow by one cylinder from the other also serves to break up any long fibers and reduce all to substantially uniform length. The function of the stirring-rolls is to assist by their loosening of the mass the detaching and freeing of foreign matter which does not so tenaciously adhere to the fiber as to require to be whipped off by the stops, but will be thrown out by centrifugal force alone. The number of cylinders and their degree of speed are such as to thoroughly clean the fiber, which is finally cleared off from the last cylinder by the comb or brush 4'? and delivered to the chute in a confused and tangled mass to be afterward carded.

I claim-- 1. The method of cleaning a mass of tow, which consists in subjecting it to the action of centrifugal force, and simultaneously picking and loosening the same.

2. The method of freeing a. mass of tow from shive and other foreign matter, which consists in subjecting it to the action of centrifugal force progressively increasing.

3. The method of freeing tow from foreign matter of greater specific gravity than its fiber, which consists of subjecting a mass of it to the action of centrifugal force,'simultaneously picking and loosening the same, and successively separating it apart and reversing its surface exposure until the entire mass has been thus exposed.

4. The method of separating foreign matter from a mass of tow, which consists of subjecting it to the action of progressively-increasing centrifugal force simultaneously stirring and loosening the mass, and successively with each increase of applied centrifugal force, reversing its surface exposure.

5. The method of freeing a mass of tow from shive and other impurities which consists in subjecting it to the action of centrifugal force to throw such impurities outward, and simultaneously removing the impurities adhering to its fiber.

6. The method of cleaning tow, consisting of subjecting it to the unrestrained action of centrifugal force to throw the intermingled impurities out of and away therefrom, picking and loosening the mass of tow, and detaching such impurities as are thrown away from the mass but adhere to its fibers.

7. The method of cleaning a mass of tow of its impurities, consisting of subjecting it to the action of centrifugal force, siinultaneously picking and loosening it to release the included impurities, successively separating the mass apart and reversing its exposure, and progressively increasing the applied centrifugal force, whereby heavier impurities are first thrown off, and then the lighter, and all of the mass is brought to the surface to free its entangled impurities.

8. The method of cleaning a mass of tow, consisting of subjectingit to the action of centrifugal force to throw off the heavier impurities, picking and loosening the mass while under the influence of such force, successively separating and rearranging the mass to bring the interior portions to the exterior, progressively increasing the applied centrifugal force and detaching from the mass the impurities projected therefrom but clinging to its fibers.

9. Means for separating foreign matter from a mass of tow by centrifugal force, comprising a series of toothed cylinders, means for rotating them oppositely with progressivelyincreasingperipheral speed, intermediate devices for picking and loosening the mass, and the stops for whipping off the impurities proj ected outward but clinging to the tow fibers.

10. Means for separating impurities from tow by centrifugal force, consisting of a series of contiguous cylinders, means for rotating them oppositely at progressively-increasing peripheral speeds, and the clothing of teeth upon said cylinders inclined in the direction of their rotation adapted to gather the tow from those of the preceding cylinder, and thereby expose all the portions of the mass and permit the impurities in the same to be thrown out of and away therefrom.

11. Means for cleaning tow by centrifugal force, consisting of a series of adjacent cylinders, means for rotating them oppositely at progressively-increasing peripheral speeds, said cylinders having clothing of teeth inclined in the direction of their rotation adapted to gather the tow from the teeth of the preceding cylinder, and deliver it to those of the succeeding cylinder, and the stops for detaching the matter which is thrown away from the cylinders but clings to the fibers of said tow.

12. Means for cleaning tow, comprising in combination a series of horizontally-arranged contiguous cylinders, means for rotating them oppositely at progressively-increased speeds, the wire-toothed clothing upon said cylinders inclined in the direction of their rotation, adapted to clear the tow from the teeth of the preceding cylinder, and to be cleared of said tow by the teeth of the succeeding cylinder, the crimped or serrated stops arranged closely adjacent to said cylinders, and in the path of foreign matter attached to fibers of said tow but thrown away from the surface of the same by centrifugal force, and the toothed stirring-rolls arranged adjacent to said cylinders and adapted to penetrate into and stir and loosen the mass of tow thereon.

13. Means for separating impurities from portions of the mass and permit the impuritow by centrifugal force, consisting of a series ties to be thrown out of and away therefrom. IO of contiguous cylinders, means for rotating In testimony whereof I affix my signature them oppositely, at progressively-increasing in presence of two Witnesses.

peripheral speeds, and the clothing of teeth MAHLON D. MILLER. upon each of said cylinders, adapted to pick Witnesses: and loosen the tow and gather it from the T. D. MERWIN,

preceding cylinder and thereby expose all MINNIE L. TI-IAUWALD. 

